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<br /> <br />56 Paddler. MaY/June 2002 <br /> <br />O()02~3 <br /> <br />Oeoee Whitewater C.r. Ducktown, Tennessee <br />The Ocoee Whitewater Center on the upper section of the Ocoee <br />River in Southeast Tennessee is one of the world's premier whitewater parks. <br />The host of the 1996 Olympic-whitewater events as well as countless World <br />Cup races and rodeos, the venue is also available for recreational use during <br />the weekends of July and August when other area rivers are dry. The 1,700- <br />foot-long Whitewater Center offers an enhanced natural riverbed that runs <br />with dam-released water; creating a course that truly has the best of both <br />man-made and <br />natural whitewater. <br />Designer John <br />Anderson created <br />a course that was <br />extremely <br />challenging. yet <br />wanted "to let the <br />river be what it <br />wants to be. and <br />maintain its natural <br />feel. He <br />accomplished this <br />by constricting the <br />riverbed by as <br />much as 50 <br />Just add water: the Ocoee Whitewater Center. percent Banks <br />were built with <br />quarry rock. boulders and a special cement designed to blend in with the <br />natural rock Desk-size boulders were placed one by one in the riverbed to <br />create ledges that form broad, retentive surling waves. and large rapids like <br />Humongous for extremely technical (and consequential) ferry and surf moves. <br />It all came at a cost, $28 million, which induded everything from parking lots <br />to a new visitor's center. <br />When not hobnobbing with the Olympians who train regularly at the <br />course, paddlers can put on a few miles above the center to do the entire <br />upper section of the Ocoee and/or continue downstream onto the popular <br />middle section for a full-day's adventure. All you need to enjoy the park is <br />three dollars for parking. which <br />also gets you access to the air- <br />conditioned visitor's center and <br />restrooms. Enjoy it while its <br />available, though, because the <br />Tennessee Valley Authority. <br />which controls flows, is not <br />guaranteeing releases for <br />coming yea."'S. ' . , <br />-Eric Kramer <br /> <br />Wausau Kayak! <br /> <br />Canoe Corp., <br /> <br />Wausau, Wisconsin <br />The flat, agrarian <br />heartland ofWausau, Wis., is <br />the last place you'd expect to <br />find rip-roaring whitewater. But <br />nestled in downtown Wausau, <br />a town of 38,000 on the <br />Wisconsin River; lies a <br />waterway hosting World Cup <br />slaloms and rodeos with <br />crowds of almost 25,000 <br />spilling out from local shops <br />and lining the banks. Once a <br />polluted, murky backwater; the <br />535-meter course has been a <br />thriving part ofWausau since its <br />creation by the army corps and <br />local volunteers in 1979. <br /> <br /> <br />Wisconsin whitewater: the course <br />was a former trash-dumping ground. <br />